holiday bling

welcome to my home! let me take you on a little tour of our living room, now that i’ve decorated for christmas.

here’s our little entry way table. the pumpkins were just cleared off to make way for this ornament-filled lantern and feather wreath.

here’s the birdcage all done up, sitting on my sofa table (still not painted, dangit. the table, not the birdcage). i filled an urn and hung a few ornaments from the top bars of the cage. this was a serious balancing act. i think hot glue could’ve come in handy on this one.

next is my buffet.

we, my mom and i (my partner in crime), hung ornaments all over this incredible HUGE birdcage that is on “long term loan” from a friend. the ornaments are simply hung from the cage wires and from ribbons taped to the top. at the base there is a plate full of more ornaments. better than the standard poop catcher, right?

these little urns just needed the ornaments plopped on top. they usually are just filled with the moss. i like to use my everyday decorations and chochkes (sp?) for holiday decorating by just adding an ornament or combining fun colors together.

this little birdbath usually hold seaglass and found heart-shaped rocks, but is bling filled for christmas, thanks to a gift from pottery barn.

the trick to filling the cake cover is turning it upside down, filling with different sizes, then placing the plate on top of it, getting a good fit. then flip it over carefully. super easy, super cute.

behind my dining table are these shelves filled with pictures. the shelves are from ikea, and i think they were around 25 bucks. killer deal. one bummer about them, though is that they are really slick and everytime a door shuts in the house and slightly rattles them, the frames all scootch a teeny tiny bit until one time a door will shut just a little too hard and BOOM! there goea another frame. i’ve lost 4 frames to those slippery shelves already, so i wised up and got museum putty and stuck it on the bottom of each frame. no more wiggles.

to finish off the shelves i hung the little glittered “joy” banner from the top shelf by taping the ribbon down. not rocket science.

the turquoise glass jars are always there, now joined by a couple ornaments. my sister gave me that cute little collection of silver cups that are also ornament filled. are you seeing a theme here?

here’s the mantle with the most ridiculous unused tv above it. you didn’t even notice it, right? good. i got a bunch of those stockings years ago (as in pre-kids) for a few buck at k-mart. i want to get some satin ribbon emroidered with everyone’s names to attach to them somehow. wouldn’t they be cute with lime, hot pink, red and turquoise ribbons on them? i think so, too.

the feather trees were a newlywed christmas purchase (going with the all-white theme, back then). still am madly in love with them. wish i had 10 more. the glittered candlesticks are from last year, and i need some lime-y tapers to go in one set to add a bit more green up there. do you think i’ll get to that? me neither.

and how cute is that “believe” banner? i’m really not a huge santa fan. not totally against him, but i try not to make him the focus, so he’s not usually a part of the decorates. but when my sister in law set us up for this banner project then whipped out a huge collection of vintage santa christmas cards my grandmother had collected for years, i was done for. really, the idea of a sign saying “believe” is supposed to be about the birth of Christ, but then santa snuck his way in. sneaky little guy!

these are the shelves on either side of the fireplace. see how i snuck in a little bit of color to the everyday stuff? easy.

last, but not least, is the most beautiful nativity that has been gifted to me over the years. love it. silas, don’t even think about it!

where’s my tree, you ask? have you not heard about my son? right now we have the fake-y up (my husband really truly is allergic to christmas trees. i tested it for 5 years, just to be sure.) and it only has lights on it. or sometimes a ball or truck is shoved inside. it just might remain that way this year. but i’m also contemplating a colorful paper chain. hmmm….

you’d never believe this, but our first few years as a married couple we had all white and silver christmas decorations. it was beautiful, and went great with our home. but after a few years i added in a deep red, not burgundy, but just a beautiful deep red, mostly ball ornaments in a matte or crackled finish. then i added a bit of lime-y green. then it expanded last year to include hot pink, turquoise, and a bit of orange! just a bit of a switch, right?

over the next couple weeks i’ll show you how to make the feather wreath, the glittered candle sticks, the “believe” banner, glitter dot ball ornaments and maybe some fun pillows if i can get to them.

Well, I keep finding more blogs to read and I can’t believe I haven’t gone to yours before this since you are on Tim’s blog. Anyway, how fun to see all your little (maybe not so little in some cases) decorating ideas. I LOVE the birdcages. How fun! Not being in my own place right now is a little depressing because I would just love to decorate my own place with my stuff that is now in storage for awhile. Good stuff, Lindsey.

Ummmmm, I love it when Christmas doesn’t get stuck in red, white, and green. You know what’s great, your kids are going to grown up and decorate their houses in the same colors, they will think turquoise, pink and orange are Christmas colors and the rest of the world is just mad for not catching on! Love it!!!!

I have a giant deep red wall in our rental house that goes from one end of this home to the other so this year I just went with creams, whites and browns, it feel really nice for a change…change, just gotta keep it exciting!

brooke – i got the feather trees at shinoda design center in tustin, ca, years ago. i so wish i had about 5 more! i have a friend who got some beautiful brown feather trees somewhere online – ebay maybe?